Oregon has yet to rank outside the top 10 nationally in transfer portal recruiting in its first two full offseasons under coach Dan Lanning. That instant-impact talent acquisition combined with remarkable success in high school recruiting has the Ducks roster on the verge of a potential breakthrough year as it enters the Big Ten.
This year’s transfer haul includes two starting-caliber quarterbacks — giving Oregon one of the top signal-caller rooms in all of college football — and ranks No. 3 with the likes of five-star receiver Evan Stewart, four-star defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell and prized cornerback Jabbar Muhammad rounding out the top pickups.
“We always look for people that could potentially make us a better team,” Lanning told 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello. “That’s probably the No. 1 job that I’m charged with is making sure we put the best product on the field… Talent matters. Coaching is a piece of it, but talent matters, so we have to go do a good job of getting great players and developing those players.”
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Below are notable quotes from Lanning’s interview with Marcello.
“I think you fall in love with the person first. Dillon’s extremely humble for a guy that’s had a lot of success. I’ve told this story, and I actually heard him say it the other day, but he drives a minivan around because he can pick up the wideouts and go take them to go throw. That’s kind of the guy he is. He’s a really humble guy, but he also has a confidence when he steps on the field. He’s intelligent. He’s smart. A great decision maker. Bo (Nix) obviously was a great decision maker for us. I expect the same things from Dillon on the field for us. Can articulate what he’s thinking. Shows leadership skills on the field. Really excited about what he can do for us.”
“We were certainly very honest with Dante, but I also told him I wanted him to come compete from the day he gets here. I’m not asking him to take a backseat to anybody, and the same for every other quarterback in that room. The way you become elite is you have elite competition. But I think this is a place Dante fell in love with a long time ago, and maybe having to go somewhere else made him realize how much more he really wanted to be here.
“He’s a person that I have a ton of admiration for and respect just the way he carries himself every day. And the talent is — we’ve seen it all over the field in spring ball. He’s very talented, very intelligent, and I’m really pleased with his growth here. It feels like being reunited with your long lost son. We recruited him for a really long time, didn’t get to coach him that first year, but really thrilled that he’s here now.”
“The thing that probably sticks out the most to me about Evan is the way he attacks the ball in the air. He can contort his body and move in a lot of different directions to be able to grab balls that a lot of guys don’t go attack. He’s truly a guy that when the ball is in the air, he’s going to go attack the ball.”
ON SOPHOMORE WR JURRION DICKEY:
“Really hope this could be a coming-out year for Jurrion. I mean, he’s big, strong. He’s a matchup nightmare for some people just because of his size and athletic ability. Definitely hoping to see big strides from Jurrion this year as he continues to grow and learns. And he’s done a good job this spring, but I’m looking for even more growth from him.”
“I believe the game is won on the line of scrimmage. What we have in talent, we lack a little bit in experience, so it’s about how quickly can we get that experience up to par. These guys gotta start playing fast. Now, we’ve had some awesome growth this spring with those guys. Our technique is really improved, our understanding of the game is really improved, and that’s what you need in young guys. It’s a lot different than playing high school ball where they were at last and how you control your body and the guys you’re going to be going against. So we gotta develop that group quick, figure out who’s going to pop out and be able to impact this team for next season.”
“We always look for people that could potentially make us a better team. That’s probably the No. 1 job that I’m charged with is making sure we put the best product on the field… Talent matters. Coaching is a piece of it, but talent matters, so we have to go do a good job of getting great players and developing those players. What do we need right now? We gotta become a team. We’ve got a lot of talent, but I need to get all those pieces to work together. If we can find something that would enhance us, then we’d certainly keep our eyes open to that.”
“I look back at that game and think about all the ways that I could have coached better and think about all the situations. From the beginning, it’s a great education as a coach, but we didn’t do team warmups right that day. The band’s there on the field and we’re still warming up. So there’s a lot of things I could have done better than that… How can you affect that? You can affect that by the way you coach.
“You can affect that by the way you recruit and improve your roster and get the right people in your organization. So we’ve certainly challenged ourselves to get better there. But I look back at that game and think about all the things that I could have done better. It’s not just the talent gap. But we’ve improved since then. We’re a much different team than we were the first time we stepped on the field when I got here.”
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